Pages

Monday, August 29, 2016

Ong Yong Lee Seafood Zichar : Must Try Chye Por Hor Fun

Came here to this zichar stall to check out the Chye Poh Hor Fun and indeed it did not disappoint at all! On the contrary, it actually exceeded my expectations with the fiery breath of wok hei that lingered in the dish right till the end. Be it the Kway Teow, the eggs, or even the squid, it's not difficult to spot black charred marks on them and these are the best bits of this dish. The Chye Por are diced so finely that you can't really pick them up by sight...but you know they are there when they pop occasionally with their intense savouriness on your palates. No need for green chilli or red chilli, the original taste is the best. But if you can't afford the least bit of heat from chilli padi like my little sister, do stay away from the red "nasty" bits in the plate. Before you get to excited and shout out "Chye Por Hor Fun" straightaway before looking at the menu, this dish is called Double Treasure Dry Hor Fun 双宝干河 and the smallest order starts from $5. But they are flexible in adjusting the size/price according to the no. of pax and our order for 5 pax came to $15--sufficient to fill you up if you are still sharing other dishes. We pointed to the Lala ($10) from the picture menu which looked similar to JB Ah Meng's garlic chilli lala but it turned out to be a chilli crab version. Bright and enticingly looking it may seemed, the red gloopy sauce was too sweet even by chilli crab standards. We naturally complied when the staff asked if we wanted to have some deep fried mantou to go along with it. Nonetheless, the clams were meaty and fresh. The Sambal Sweet Potato Leaves ($8) was decent as well without any major mistakes. I am always on the lookout for Prawn paste chicken ($8) whenever I go for any zichar and the version here is indisputably good. Even my little sister who seldom eat chicken, wolf down 3 wings in a shot. The wings boasted a super crunchy shell but the interior wasn't not dry at all. It had a good balance of flavor without being overly salty.

Another thing which caught our attention was the rice crispies that was actually coated with curry powder--a clever substitute to lettuce as the latter tends to release water aka 出水 and dampen the dish. Once I start having a spoonful, there was no return. So fragrant, moreish and amazingly not oily at all. Back in my mind, I knew this is damn heaty but I couldn't stop. In the end, I cleared the other plate of Rice Krispies used for the deep fried mantou as well.

Going back to the star dish, we felt it was better than Poh's version @ Empress Road. The latter is more like a carrot cake made with kway teow and has a higher ratio of egg. The plate from Ong Yong Lee lacked the pork lard but I did not miss it because the wok hei made up for the aroma easily. Most importantly, it did not leave a greasy mouthfeel and the taste was just right. Service was friendly and courteous, even though we were busy combatting those irky houseflies that kept hovering on our food. My dad found the food here quite normal, even though the rest of the family disagreed with him (as usual, he's the picky eater for Chinese food at home). Ee-fu mian, fish head steamboat, chye por Neng....I need to make a revisit next time.